Bad Habits
by TigerxFox
Summary: Zoro and Sanji had decided: for their daughter they would restrain their bad habits.


Sanji was nervous. He had stopped smoking his precious cigarettes for some time now. In fact, he only drastically reduced the amount and now just smoked a few times a day and only on the balcony. But for a guy that had always been a chimney since the young age of 10 it was almost as difficult as stopping. He never expected to be in this situation, never thought to lessen the habit, not even knowing how deadly it was.

But he'd made an agreement with Zoro. For _her_, they would restrict their bad habits. No cigs all the time near the girl, no smoking inside the house, no drinking like an alcoholic seaweed 24 hours a day, no swearing... the latter was valid for both, but Sanji certainly had a mouth dozens of times dirtier than the marimo's.

But truth is he couldn't be more excited. Yes, he was a bit nervous about having less nicotine in his lungs than he was used to, but that really didn't seem to matter at the moment. Ever since his blue eyes met the girl's pink hair at the orphanage, Sanji knew that many things in his life would become irrelevant compared to her. When she smiled endlessly at her equally smiling idiot parents, his heart couldn't handle it. He wanted to take the girl home at that very moment, but bureaucracy wouldn't allow it.

Besides, the woman who worked there had been somewhat _alarmed_ by the two men. No, it wasn't because they were both men, she didn't live in stone age. It was because they were a bit… well …ruff with each other. She had watched the green-haired man and the blond exchange insults every couple of minutes and smash their foreheads together to almost head off to fight right in front of her countless times when she visited them. Not to mention the times they really started a physical fight in her presence (It didn't help their case at all the swords hanging in the living room's wall). And it was no different when they visited the orphanage. The woman watched in horror as the two fought while little Toko smiled and clapped her hands.

Among some recommendations and advice, she gave both of them, was that of being less violent and trying to be peaceful (what she really wanted to say was "be more normal", but refrained). She said that if they continued like this they would give the girl the impression they hated each other and would frighten her. And that was the part with which Sanji was not comfortable with. This even included calling themselves by their own names and not by mocking nicknames. Which seemed so odd to both of them. Sanji rarely called the mari- that is, Zoro, by his name. It wasn't only strange, it was embarrassing. They only used their names for acts of intimacy, sexual or not, and they couldn't help but flush when they practiced pronouncing their names.

Not fighting was going to be really hard. It was his routine with Zoro for god knows how long, so it was almost intrinsic. How to stop teasing him? And worse, how to stop getting carried away by Zoro's infuriating teasing? Not calling themselves by nicknames... impossible. Sanji swore he could tell his fingers how many times his husband had spoken his name since they met.

The dynamics between the two might have been part of their bad habits too, but Sanji felt strange about giving it up. It was not the same as smoking less, or swearing less... he felt as if his own relationship with Zoro was being silenced.

When Toko arrived at their house, they behaved in the most presentable way they could. He was avoiding eye contact with the bast-, with Zoro, because they were both awkward and unsure how to act, and because he wanted to avoid the temptation to fight.

"You guys are acting weird today." The girl said after a few minutes, an expression of annoyance plastered on her tiny face. And Sanji almost opened his mouth to deny it, but the couple had hardly looked each other in the eyes since the girl had arrived, barely exchanged two uncomfortable words and were always two feet away from each other. It was so obvious that it would be ridiculous to refute her. And he wouldn't insult the child's intelligence.

He looked at the annoyed little one and tried to remember how beautiful she looked when they went to visit her. If he thought about it, the girl seemed very comfortable around them, even with their antics. He also tried to remember how exactly this behavior was. It was so natural to him, that he never thought about it, he supposed it was something as bizarre as thinking about breathing.

Every time they went to the orphanage Sanji couldn't remember really being mad at his husband. Of course, he'd always get irritated with practically every step Zoro took, and yes, he wanted to kill him every fucking second. But he didn't hate him. He, unfortunately, loved every bit of that stupid seaweed. That woman was the one who didn't understand anything. That day they argued as they always did, screamed, teased each other. Everything hand in hand and interspersed with small gestures of affection. And thinking carefully, that seemed to have been exactly what the girl saw when they were together and so she smiled truly at both of them.

He resolved then, still staring at the little girl's confused and angry orbs, to ignore this particular advice from the social worker, and let himself feel comfortable in the old dynamic with his idiot husband, who soon reciprocated with relief. When everything felt lighter and less artificial Toko smiled at her two dumb dads. Her smile mirrored her parents'.

They didn't have to stop the fighting. They didn't have to censor who they were. Okay, maybe it would be nice not to kick Zoro flying from the kitchen to the living room in the presence of their daughter. But the point is that most of the time they weren't really fighting. Their house's broken furniture certainly didn't help this statement, but it was love. A somewhat violent and stupid love, but Toko recognized it was love.


End file.
